Too drunk to murder?

Lawyers say clients too drunk to be depraved, so not guilty of murder

By Robert Gavin

Updated 8:03 am, Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Photo: Cindy Schultz

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Hon. Robert S. Smith listens to arguments on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2013, at the New York State Court of Appeals in Albany, N.Y. The court heard appeals from three drivers claiming they were too intoxicated to know right from wrong in deadly crashes and should have their murder convictions thrown out. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union) less

Hon. Robert S. Smith listens to arguments on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2013, at the New York State Court of Appeals in Albany, N.Y. The court heard appeals from three drivers claiming they were too intoxicated to know ... more

Photo: Cindy Schultz

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Maureen McCormick lays out her arguments on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2013, at the New York State Court of Appeals in Albany, N.Y. The court heard appeals from three drivers claiming they were too intoxicated to know right from wrong in deadly crashes and should have their murder convictions thrown out. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union) less

Maureen McCormick lays out her arguments on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2013, at the New York State Court of Appeals in Albany, N.Y. The court heard appeals from three drivers claiming they were too intoxicated to know ... more

Photo: Cindy Schultz

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Erica Horwitz lays out her arguments on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2013, at the New York State Court of Appeals in Albany, N.Y. The court heard appeals from three drivers claiming they were too intoxicated to know right from wrong in deadly crashes and should have their murder convictions thrown out. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union) less

Erica Horwitz lays out her arguments on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2013, at the New York State Court of Appeals in Albany, N.Y. The court heard appeals from three drivers claiming they were too intoxicated to know right ... more

Photo: Cindy Schultz

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Anne Grady, Staten Island assistant district attorney, lays out her arguments on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2013, at the New York State Court of Appeals in Albany, N.Y. The court heard appeals from three drivers claiming they were too intoxicated to know right from wrong in deadly crashes and should have their murder convictions thrown out. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union) less

Anne Grady, Staten Island assistant district attorney, lays out her arguments on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2013, at the New York State Court of Appeals in Albany, N.Y. The court heard appeals from three drivers claiming ... more

Photo: Cindy Schultz

Too drunk to murder?

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Too drunk to murder?

Lawyers for three deadly drivers presented that argument to New York's highest court on Tuesday in the hope that their clients could get their convictions reduced from murder to manslaughter — and no longer face possible life sentences.

In all three cases — two on Long Island, the other on Staten Island — the drivers were intoxicated or under the influence of drugs and drove in the wrong lanes. All were convicted of second-degree murder for showing a "depraved indifference" to human life.

Their attorneys contend their clients' inebriation rendered them incapable of showing such depravity and, thus, could not be guilty of murder.

"She was extremely intoxicated and she was entirely oblivious to the danger that she was creating," Erica Horwitz, the attorney for Taliyah Taylor, 31, who is serving 221/3 years to life in prison, told the Court of Appeals.

On Oct. 18, 2006, Taylor mixed Ecstasy, marijuana and beer. Then she stripped off her clothes during an argument with her mother, got in a friend's car naked and drove 90 mph without headlights on Forest Avenue in Staten Island, where she killed a pedestrian, 41-year-old defense attorney Larry Simon. She then blew past a red light and struck a car, injuring two occupants.

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Staten Island Assistant District Attorney Anne Grady said Taylor was aware of her actions — and was "exhilarated" by them.

"She didn't care who she was hurting," the prosecutor said. "She just was having ... fun."

The very notion that such drivers may get lesser time because they were drunk infuriated the father of one victim.

"To claim now that they can hide behind their own ingestion of intoxicating substances is, quite frankly, abominable to me and I don't know why it's even being counted," said Neil Flynn of Long Beach, L.I., whose 7-year-old daughter, Katie, was killed on the Meadowbrook Parkway on July 2, 2005.

Drunk driver Martin Heidgen, 32, drove in the wrong direction and smashed his pickup truck into a limousine carrying Flynn's family from a wedding. Heidgen's blood alcohol level of 0.28 was more than three times the legal limit.

Flynn, a civil attorney who attended the arguments with his wife, Jennifer, told the Times Union he believes Heidgen, serving 18 years to life, will be free if his conviction is reduced to second-degree manslaughter. The charge carries a maximum of 5 to 15 years.

Heidgen's attorney, Jillian Harrington, told the judges there was no proof her client was aware he was driving in the wrong direction. In turn, Nassau County Assistant District Attorney Maureen McCormick said Heidgen boldly ignored traffic signs and headlights that made it obvious he was headed the wrong way.

McCormick also argued to uphold the murder conviction of drunk driver Franklin McPherson, 26, who drove his 1999 Lexus the wrong way on the Southern State Parkway after shots were fired in a Hempstead nightclub on Oct. 19, 2007. McPherson crashed into a car driven by 44-year-old Leslie Burgess, killing him.

McPherson, whose 0.19 blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit, is serving 25 years to life.

"Nobody who is not oblivious will plow right into, head on, another vehicle at 60 miles an hour or even more without even making an attempt to avoid the collision," McPherson's attorney, Jonathan Edelstein, told the judges.

"I think pretty much everyone agrees that if somebody deliberately goes the wrong way on a highway, you've got a pretty good case for depraved indifference," said Associate Judge Robert Smith. "That's a very, very strange thing to do. When someone is going the wrong way on a highway, you almost have to assume he is suicidal or he is so drunk that he doesn't know what he's doing. How do you prove that this guy did know what he was doing?"

McCormick said McPherson maintained his lane and speed and acted deliberately.

After the arguments, Flynn was incredulous.

"Voluntary intoxication may now be a defense to murder, and I think that's absurd," he said. "I think it's dangerous for the people of the state of New York. I think it's a travesty of justice for my family and my daughter and the other victims in these cases. These people chose to do what they did."